Can you eat after the first stage of root canal?

Struggling to choose a meal, snack, or drink following a root canal? Don’t worry! You’ll be picking from a menu of healthy, delicious options in no time. It can be hard to know if your favorite treat is a food to avoid or enjoy during recovery from a dental procedure. We’re here to help you navigate your diet while your mouth is still sensitive.

Table of Contents Show

What Not to Eat After a Root Canal
Root Canal Treatment Aftercare
Important Takeaways
What happens after first session of root canal?
How long does it take to be able to chew after a root canal?
What should I eat after first RCT?

We recommend enjoying soft foods after your procedure to avoid irritation and allow your mouth to recover. But can you eat after a root canal? You’re likely to be hungry after a long dental appointment, but you should avoid eating until numbness from the anesthetic has completely disappeared so that you don’t accidentally bite an area that hasn’t yet regained sensation.

Luckily, there’s a long list of soft foods you can treat yourself to:

Scrambled eggs, yogurt, or a smoothie for a healthy breakfast
Mashed potatoes, meatloaf, or shredded-meat for a filling meal
Ripe, canned, or cooked fruit as a snack (try with soft cheese or peanut butter!)
Pasta, noodles, quinoa, or couscous provide much-needed substance.
Cooked vegetables on their own, with hummus, or blended into a luke-warm soup
Saltines, matzah, or soft bread if you’re in the mood for something easy
Frozen yogurt or sorbet for a low-fat desert

What Not to Eat After a Root Canal

Deciding what foods to avoid after a dental procedure? Here are two easy rules of thumb to boost your recovery:

Skip hard and sticky foods that can remove a temporary crown or hurt the recent work done to your mouth.
Avoid overly hot or cold food and drinks. You may experience temperature sensitivity in your gums or teeth, so it’s best to keep it to mild temperatures. Don’t feel that you have to avoid your favorite cookies fresh from the oven; just let them cool down a bit first!

Here’s a simple overview of foods you shouldn’t eat after a root canal:

Sticky foods like taffy, gum, and candy that could pull out your temporary crown
Hard items like candies, peanut brittle, and ice cubes that carry the risk of chipping your tooth
Very hot or cold items that might irritate sensitive areas or cause pain

Root Canal Treatment Aftercare

So, the root canal is complete. Great job! With the most challenging part out of the way, you can focus on aftercare and prevent other problems down the line.

It’s safe to return to the regular routine of brushing twice daily and flossing once. Still, it’s a good idea to be careful around sensitive areas and not pull the floss up near your temporary filling or crown, or you risk pulling it out.

If you’re experiencing slight discomfort after your procedure, don’t worry, it’s normal for this to persist for a few days. For a quick fix, try rinsing with luke-warm saltwater. Otherwise, your dentist may recommend over-the-counter medications to help with your symptoms.

Important Takeaways

Remember to give yourself the best chance at recovery by eating soft foods and avoiding hard, sticky ones. We recommend staying away from overly hot and cold items not to irritate any sensitive areas. It’s normal to experience discomfort for a few days after the procedure. Deciding what to eat after a root canal can be challenging. Longterm, you’ll be glad to have made informed choices that will have a lasting impact on your dental health and quality of life.

25 June 2015

After a lengthy root canal treatment many patients may feel hungry or thirsty or in need of tea or a coffee. But before you go out to “refuel”, here are some things to consider…

What can I eat or drink immediately after my root canal treatment?

The main consideration here is the fact that your mouth will be numb. The numbness, from anaesthesia, will vary from one person to another, both in duration and in the area affected. Most likely you will notice not only that your tooth is numb but also that your lip, gum, cheek and/or tongue may be numb. Hence you will need to be very careful when eating and drinking so that you don’t accidentally injure yourself – by, for example, accidentally biting or burning yourself.

The rule of thumb when consuming food or drinks immediately after root canal therapy is to do so with caution. In other words:

eat on the side opposite the treatment – ie the side that is not numb
eat only soft foods that don’t require a lot of chewing
eat slowly
avoid very hot foods and drinks such as hot soup or hot tea or coffee.

Some people choose to avoid food and drinks altogether, with the exception of cold water, while their mouth feels numb. However, this may not the best approach as any significant decrease in your blood sugar levels may in fact make you feel sick (a very important issue for diabetics especially). Ask your treating dentist or endodontist for some guidelines specifically related to you and your case.

What can I eat or drink in between my root canal appointments?

Most root canal treatments are not completed within one appointment. Usually the exposed and treated root canal will be protected with a temporary filling until such time as a permanent restoration (a crown or an onlay) have been prepared and placed. During this time the temporary filling needs to be treated with care, so you shouldn’t use that tooth to chew on very hard foods. Accidents do happen, however; if your root-treated tooth or temporary filling has chipped, please notify your dentist or endodontist immediately. A chipped tooth or temporary filling that is left unattended may lead to infection of the root canal.

Sometimes teeth are a little tender once the numbness has worn off after root canal treatment. If this applies to you, we recommend that you not use this tooth for chewing until the tenderness has settled. If necessary, take any pain medication that has been suggested by your dental practitioner. Inflammation should decrease faster if you avoid biting with the tooth in question.

What happens after first session of root canal?

As the medication used to numb your mouth during the procedure wears off, you may feel some tenderness in the area for a few days as everything heals and some mild soreness in your jaw from keeping your mouth open for an extended period during the procedure.

How long does it take to be able to chew after a root canal?

Local anesthetic is used to numb the treated area during your root canal procedure. This can take up to two hours to wear off, so we ask that you avoid hot liquids and chewing food until the area is no longer numb. Chewing while your mouth is numb can cause soft tissue injury.